Worst truck stop you have been to

That's just a standard issue small scale Pilot Travel Center. They get way worse than that. I think of it as extra parking for the Sapp Brothers across the street. One of the better eateries on the highway.

 

I agree with you in Sapp Bros. Overall,its a decent area (tight squeeze at times tho~) except for that shady motel across the road ...Americ Inn

 

LIGHTWEIGHTS I'll tell ya'. I was thinking about this last night and I wonder how many drivers actually remember some of these places. Isn't the old WGT (Worlds greatest truckstop) in downtown Laredo bad enough for you? Ontario west was getting bad at one time but what about Truck Town off of Cherry Ave in Fontana or the Three Sisters? I've seen drivers get into fights and trash Truck Town! Anybody remember the Union 76 in South Holland, IL or do you like South Side FC off of the Dan Ryan better? The I-55 is/was a hell hole and they forced the CLARK which was much newer to shut down. I hear about the J in Aurora having tight parking but I think the Pilot in Denver is just as bad. Has anybody tried to park at the petro in Kingston Springs lately? That place is a nightmare. One place I used to get harassed for everything under the sun was The Jackrabbit (now a pilot) in Albany, GA. Somebody forgot to mention there's a public housing complex right across the street!. Is that old rat shack in Jersey City still there or do I have to carry my shootin' Iron and park at the Vince Lombardi? I've heard complaints about The Walt Whitman but I think the old Ellenwood,GA TA was comparable and there's a nastier one (can't remember the name) across from the K-Mart warehouse. The Pilot IN Indianapolis is no great gamble and the ones south of town are in NOWHERESVILLE nowhere! I hear talk about the x472 pilot in Dallas but nothing about the 2 other truck stops (unknown if they're still there) on the North side of the interstate where the hookers weighed about 250LBS and carried revolvers. I don't think the Pilot in Houston is a fun place either. While you may feel safer in some areas, how many drivers were shot and killed at/near the Petro in San Antonio in one year (shame because I used to like the place). I seem to remember a couple of nights I spent somewhere at a Louisiana Petro where I was nearly run down and attacked by giant bugs. I cannot tell you when I've had a restful night at any of the truckstops built within the right of way along I-10 or I-20 in LA because the ground is unstable and the road vibration travels like SIN. I can remember a time when the Petro in Scranton was and exceptionally nice place to stop and then it became a rat hole with a slave labor shop (Chinese Massage parlor) instead of a game/computer lounge, a hair salon (if you don't know about the stylist, I won't tell), substandard food, a closed movie theater, a complicated pay lot system and college girls running around practicing a profession that they didn't need a degree for! Elkton, MD was nice at one time *shrug*, Bordentown, NJ was okay until a CDL school took over their back lot, they closed their theater, let 6 inches of oil build up on the parking lot and turned their foodservice into sub-standard garbage. Need a hooker and a hookup? Why not try the Pilot in Amarillo or if you need a bit more of the city life, give the cental/Eastern group of OKC truck stops a try.

As for the best stops, I like that old ratty 76 South of Boston where the restaurant is the ONLY part of the building in beautiful condition and while the food is not cheap, it is excellent! Try the Borscht sometime. While I've not been there in a few years, White's in Raphine,VA was always one of my favorites because the menu items are easier to pronounce if you've got some teeth missing and you could smoke in the drivers dining area plus the TV room also. I used to enjoy their ala carte bar in the front with both hot and cold food to go. I've never seen the hotel on site but it cannot be too bad as it is occupied most of the time. I would imagine the rooms are the same size as they were at any of the older TA/76 buildings. Don't drivers remember some of the T/As still had rooms in the main building even a handful of years ago? The Lee-Hi is also on my list of great places but only 1/3 of the parking lot is level and you LEAN against the back of the cab a bit while trying to snooze. The Kenly, NC Petro (T/A) is a fairly decent place but the amenities are more expensive as it's owned by the same people who own Iowa 80, Mo-70, Joplin Petro...These are all VERY NICE stops even a couple are showing some age. I wonder if anybody knows what makes the Petro in Racine, WI unique. While it is a fairly nice place to stop aside from the parking lot being a small disaster, it is one of a handful of stops where if you get stranded on the weekend or get laid over, you can hop a bus and say BYE for a few days. There's a regular sized motorcoach that makes a stop there a few times per day that will take you to either the Milwaukee or O'Hare airport and if you know what you're doing, you can transfer to another bus or AMTRAK in Milwaukee and you can catch either a plane,bus, commuter train or city train from the O'Hare Bus stop. With a little timing, a smart driver can go home for downtime cheaper than dead head and/or a low paying load. Another connection is the Monee,IL Petro but I don't think they want you hanging around there long as they patrol the lot and keep track of truck movements closely. Maybe it was just an extortion racket to get people to use the now defunct Idle Aire. Anyway, a cab from there to the University park Metra Electric station is about $5 and a train ride to Millennium station/park is $7.25. I think you can still ride round trip anywhere in the Metra system on the weekends for $7. I think I remember a place in Kankakee where you could park and hop the bus for $3 each way that connects you to the same train station. While there's limited service, you can walk to the MARC train from the truckstop in Jessup, MD if you were interested in visiting DC without having to look for parking. It's actually easier to do this from the Baltimore T/A as the bus stops right across the street. That neighborhood looks rough but it is the truckstop itself that is a magnet for activity. The surrounding residential streets are actually a neighborhood that sprouted from a beat up industrial area. The nastiness is a mile or more further west where there's beat up public housing complexes that are boxed in by million dollar condos. I've ready where drivers say that they don't like Fultonville, NY...Why? It's boring but I've seen much worse in NY State. I'd see 2-3 accidents an hour at the T/A further west. Some of the "Res" Truck stops make those look pretty! I used to get harassed once in a while at the place in The Port of Albany, NY but their diner (unknown now) served a MEAN breakfast for a fair price. I've been at the Hurricane, WV T/A before when it was evacuated for a bomb threat because a driver got in the face of some kid trying to pimp out college girls in the parking lot but I liked the place on Old US 35 (WV817) better. How many drivers have had a weak stomach there after taking WV34 to US35 headed towards Ohio? When your tires are kicking up dust and the driver coming toward you is doing the same while missing your mirror by inches, that road IS narrow but stopping at the A+A made up for it! Not to leave out a place with a similarly memorable name, I've stopped at the J+J on I-30 a fair number of times and their Sunday Brunch buffet was spectacular. If I wasn't in the mood, I'd stop at Rip's further down the road. Since that is now a T/A, I prefer to stop at Soulman's on my way to Dallas for some Brisket, Chicken and my fried okra+-a few more veggies. I've been told of some place in Owensboro, KY that has THE best buffet ever and while I've never been there, I can remember what the Champagne breakfast buffet at The Little America in Flagstaff looks like. I've had some great Mexican food at ??? a stop outside Holbrook, AZ but that place has been bought and sold a few times. While not a truckstop, The Riverside casino in Laughlin,NV has a parking lot big enough for 15-20 trucks and a very wide variety of food choices in addition to a fair room price if you book ahead for those days when you've blown your book driving from Chicago to LA and then to the valley and back. IF you follow AZ-95 north from needles, it is not very far north of I-40 and you don't have to worry about dying going over "Searchlight" to get there.While I used to love Jubitz, I've heard that it is no longer the same...I like several of the places coming Montana and the Dakotas, but if you save your nickels, the diner in Worthington,MN is not bad at all. I never minded getting stuck in certain areas as I could always go for an all-you can eat prime rib dinner in Portage, WI (Petro) or eat fantastic Chicken and Ribs at Morris, IL (They changed everything to T/A but the food). I could talk about the food,drink and conversation without obligation at a few places in Nevada but that's there for the adventurous soul! I liked "The Garden of Eden" in Eden,ID more before they served primarily fast food and "Honkers" in Jerome was always a nice place b/c they've got a commercial laundry built into the front and you can walk to Wal-Mart. I did notice 10 years ago that southern Idaho has a slight shortage of men I remember that all of the people working at the Albertsons warehouse in Meridian (that I saw) were women...Ditto that for The Garden of Eden...On a trip across Kansas, a stop at Newells was in order if you could find a parking space and while it's still good, not as good as it once was. For an older property, I'd say that BETO junction can hold their weight anyday and while thinking about that general part of the country, I like stopping at BIG Cabin, OK! I've stopped many times in MO at various places and I still like "The Voss" even though it was degraded from its heyday for a while. Before the big PILOT takeover, The gateway was one of my favorite stopping places when you could still park in the back lot and YES, the main lot was still a 2 acre ####. Out of all the Pilots that I don't care for, West Knoxville was always one of the worst to get IN/OUT of and get fuel! What a zoo! One of my final favorites is one that appears to have gone the way of the DODO bird in Dandridge, TN. I can't even remember the name but I do remember some darn fine food from there and plenty of coffee!

 

Thanks for the reading I went to sleep before i read it all!!!

 

wow...that made me dizzy...:smt119

 

A wall of text ....

 

Can't think of the name of it but the truck stop on 75 across the road from Love's in Anna, TX.

Place smells like someone took a dump on the front counter.

 

Walked in once, across the road I went!

 

Hell, I will say I went into a little spot in Amish country up northern Indiana once had the best Coleslaw ever. I got the last serving that day, apparently the locals would come by it up when they heard it was freshly made. Went real well with the meatloaf and mashed taters!

 

well don't keep it to itself Me loves good homemade coleslaw!